Bombay high court junks case under SC/ST Act at anticipatory bail appeals stage

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The Bombay high court's Aurangabad bench has quashed and set aside an FIR under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act at the stage of appeals by a mother-son duo against the rejection of their anticipatory bail pleas by a special judge (Atrocity) at Rahata in Ahilyanagar district on July 7, 2025.The bench took note of the fact that the complainant and the appellants entered into a compromise and did not want to pursue the case any further. It, however, imposed a cost of Rs10,000 each on the two appellants for invoking the police machinery as well as the court machinery, and entering a compromise after registration of the crime. Besides, considering the nature of the F.I.R. in both the appeals.The complainant-woman in the case under the SC/ST Act can withdraw the cost once the same is deposited by the appellants, Justice Y G Khobragade said in his order on Feb 5.The bench also quashed and set aside a counter-FIR based on a complaint by the mother-son duo against the complainant in the SC/ST Act case. Both these FIRs were registered by the Shirdi police station in Ahilyanagar district.The matter stemmed from a dispute between two families in which the complainant-woman accused the mother-son duo of criminal intimidation, intentional insult and hurling casteist abuses in public view. In the counter-FIR, the mother-son duo accused the woman of house trespass for assault, outraging modesty, voluntarily causing hurt, criminal intimidation, intentional insult and common intention. Advocate Rashmi Kulkarni appeared for the appellants.On Nov 6, 2025, the HC granted an interim anticipatory bail to the two appellants. Earlier on July 7, 2025, the complainant-woman filed a pursis (information to court) with the trial court stating that since she got married and now, she was residing at her matrimonial house, she had decided to give up the dispute and had no objection to grant of bail to the mother-son duo. At the hearing before the HC on Jan 8 this year, the HC directed continuation of the interim relief to the appellants. The advocate for the appellants then furnished a notarised affidavit executed by the complainant-woman to the effect that the parties have entered a compromise and she had decided to withdraw all the complaints lodged against the appellants. The HC then called the two parties to appear in person at the next date for verification of the affidavit as a voluntary act.The HC then relied on an SC judgment that held that even in cases under the SC/ST Act, where the dispute appeared to be primarily private or civil in nature and continuation of proceedings amounted to an abuse of process, the High Court was empowered to quash the case. The bench referred to another decision of 2024 by the Allahabad HC, which noted that an offence under the SC/ST Act may be compounded in a criminal appeal under Section 14-A(1) of the Act itself and that recourse to Section 482 of the CrPC, which refers to inherent powers of the HC, was not necessary. The bench noted that since no chargesheet had been filed, the question of discharging the appellants did not arise and went on to quash the FIR.